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May 13

Facebooks privacy settings in a map

By Profound, Techie No Comments

Click the pics to see originals!

It is rather interesting what Facebook has been doing with their changes. What I always find hilarious is how people complain about it.

  • Yes FB is using your data for marketing
  • Yes FB is letting other big companies see your info
  • Yes FB is using your data for its own gain!

But what everyone seems to miss is the point that no-one is paying for the service! It’s free!People need to realise that when using a free service that it will not be kept fully private. If you post something on-line then you must expect that it will be shared.

It’s kinda like being invited to dinner at someones house then having a go at them when they tell their other friends what a good time you all had. Its rediculous!

The point is that FB is a free service so no-one can really justly moan about when they change the service!

(Img Source)

Apr 16

Skip the crud with DVDs

By Film, Techie No Comments

Having just finished season 5 of Lost and then seeing a an article today i was reminded about the Lost Season 5 DVD’s that LoveFilm sent us.

Each DVD would take about 3 days to get to the main menu without the ability to skip the various trailers and ads for blu-ray. Coupled with the fact that our DVD player is a bit flakey and so it takes a while between each clip that the thing tries to play.

You can imagine the frustration.

All i wanna do is watch the film/episode/feature

i dont wanna have to troll through the various crud offerings.

So how do you get straight to the point?

Well there is a cheeky lil Remote control trick that should work for most DVDs.

Just hit stop twice then the play button! This should bring you straight to the main feature without all the faffing about! WOO!

Thanks to lifehacker.com for this tip

Apr 15

HDMI to Wireless HD transmitter?

By Techie No Comments

SO i saw this article this morning on Gizmag and it begged the querstion:

Could this be a solution for shooting with DSLR setups?

Its The TruLink 1-Port 60GHz WirelessHD Kit which is designed to be a domestic product to help tidy up the clutter of cables in your home. However i think it could be use in a production setup. It has a 60Ghz transmission capability which suggests it could cleanly transmit a good signal across a room.

the 7D and 550D can both output a 1080i signal through their HDMI ports albeit with guides. This can be overcome but at the moment its tricky. I can’t help but think that we are only a few firmware updates away from getting full 1080p with an option for guides out of those lil HDMI ports! If that happens then Rock and Roll we all shall be!

One of the biggest snags on DSLR setups is the 12min shoot limit. I don’t think there is a reliable solution for overcoming this at the moment which is sad. Limits come with the Cards and file-structures and tax issues. However the above gadget could be a solution to receive the signal and record on to a separate device in what ever format you choose.

Imagine being able to record wirelessly direct to ProRes straight in to a Mac? – Nice!

Thanks to GIZMAG and theC47 for info and images.

Apr 13

The Orange Fail SAGA serialization!

By Arg, I Laughed, Profound, Techie No Comments

COMING SOON!

THE ORANGE FAIL SAGA

With the on going saga or rather my ongoing battle with Orange I have come up with series of posts. I know how you have  all enjoyed the serialized posts to date. 50 Reasons & Poetry Too boosted the traffic to this website a long way so I thank you readers fopr the ….um….readershipness!?!?

Anyway – the point of this is that if you troll through this site you will see a bunch of posts  with me moaning about the crappy service that Orange has provided form time to time. When its been bad its been diabolical. It’s almost inspired me to douse my own eyes with a vinegar and lemon c**ktail with extra salt to boot. I plan to email each of these posts to Orange in an attempt to get them to do one of two things.

  • Hire me as an Special Undercover Customer Services Operative (SUCsO for short).
  • Change their ways

Sadly I’m not hopeful either will happen – It’ll be a great and creative way to vent though!

Apr 13

New phone not working…AGAIN!!!!

By FAIL, Techie 3 Comments

All i really want is a phone that works! Is that too much to ask?

I’ve had it just over a week and it has been failing me over and over and over….

  • Constant Crashing
  • Constant freezing
  • Not booting with USB plugged in
  • Video recording freezes
  • Sound goes out of sync with recorded video
  • Screen goes glitchy in camera mode
  • music/pod-casts stutter
  • not picking up calls.
  • not connecting to PC

grrr

Other faults that are more of an annoyance and may not be classed as faults include:

  • Loudspeaker activation is hard to navigate to
  • unlocking screen requires one to many presses
  • unlocking screen requires depressing answer key which is just in the wrong place.
  • screen is easily scratched to crap

On paper this phone is AMAZING! its sad though that the most amazing thing about it has turned out to be the frequency at which it fails me…

Apr 10

House finale shot on 5DmkII

By Techie No Comments

This is amazing – the entire finale episode of House has been shot on a Canon 5D mkII – and to think the BBC are being stupidly snobby trying to say it’s not proper HD – CRAP!

This should shake things up for the Video capable DSLR way of film making!

Below is a nice lil video of a some more footage from said camera but what’s great about this is the “Gun Rig” its a great look that you can only really get from this set-up:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/10779256[/vimeo]
Mar 29

Crud or Cool?

By Techie No Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6cTVaga7n4

I can’t decide whether this is cool or if its just crud – the girl in the video doesn’t inspire confidence.

What say you?

Mar 09

So I wont be getting an iPhone then…

By Arg, Techie, Via Phone No Comments

The past few days have been quite stressful actually due to my quest to see if I can get an iphone as my upgrade!

Orange, YET AGAIN. have failed me…

Bless them but  they have about as much integrity as a spoon trying to be a marshmallow.

They have this deal on their website which seems to be quite a good. Its offering to combine your Mobile, Landline and broadband all in to one unit at a cost of £60 per month. Sounds quite good so far, The real sweetener is that they’ll throw in an iPhone3GS 32GB for free!

Wow! – yes, that’s what i said, and out loud too!

…that is about as good as it all got as it got bad from there on in!

  • The page on which the offer is on had some small print which was designed to be missed! On this I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and to carry on….i should trust my instincts more.

  • Small print says nothing indicating that you wont get a 32GB handset if you only sign an 18 month contract.
  • I tried really hard to find a positive review on-line about their broadband service. I know in most forums when people write reviews its mostly bad stuff but usual;ly there is one or two kind souls who will write about their positive experience – NOT ONE!
  • The phone call was next – it didn’t go well
  • The guy was cagey when i asked about the “fair usage” policy for the broadband
  • I had to ask him 7/8 times for the info i wanted
  • then he lied to me… i caught him out when he was feeding me bull and contradicted himself
  • i still had to ask him another few times for the information i wanted

As you can read – I am not exactly filled with confidence with them. I still want to stick with Orange as we save quite a bit of money with their Orange Wednesday deals but i have lodged a complaint and will see if that lightens the situation any more than it has.

Feb 15

Ultrawide Test

By Techie, Video No Comments

I wanted to do a test using an ultrawide view on screen and this is the result.

[vimeo width=”590″ height=”246″]http://vimeo.com/9464124[/vimeo]
Feb 05

New Facebook screenshot

By Techie One Comment

I mentioned earlier abpout new facebook and it wasn’t until later that i realised that not everyone has it – i wonder why i have it and others dont!

Anyway – haev a screen shot of mine.

Jan 28

Sooooooo – The iPad?

By Techie 2 Comments

So Yesterday Steve Jobs announced the new iPad…….my first responce is…pffft or meh!

The iPod and the iPhone were both amazig launches and ground breaking pieces of technology but the iPad misses the mark in quite a few ways. but it’s main one is that it’s very expensive – I’d prefer to have another macbook for what i’d be paying.

I can see its functionality being brilliant but not for the price its at.

Philip Bloom had the thought that it might be used as a monitor for HDSLR’s which would be brilliant but even still – it would feel gimicky.

(Pic source – Gizmodo)

Jan 21

A power strip controlled by USB

By Techie No Comments

The Project: I want to find a product that will allow me to turn on my USB devices from the computer.

The Reason: I have set up the home system so that i can log in from home and use the Mini to do stuff. At tthis precice moment it is backjing up my websites via FTP. I am about to set it to do some batch processes on my music and video files. In order to do this i had to plug everything in before i left home which meant they were running for hours before i needed to use them. Not Very Green!

I’d like a system where i can program it to either turn on each USB device at the mains on screen, or to tunr them on when the computer comes on or both!

Solution 1: Go home made! But this is an almighty fafftastic route and there is a risk of death! Instructables – A USB Power Controled Plug Strip. With Isolation.

Solution 2: Eco Strip– not sure if this will actually do the job!

Solution 3: Standby Saver – as featured on Dragons Den  – buy at argos

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